Take the gift and be happy

Hello Everyone!

So I suppose I owe some news. We have been incredibly busy. My son and I get along famously, (in the mission, if you are training a new missionary, he is referred to as your son) I really enjoy this companion. We are learning a lot together and working really hard

Random story, yesterday we found some people playing ping pong outside the house, I offered a challenge, if I won they listen to our message. Needless to say, they listened to our message :)

While it is really tiring, I am enjoying immensely what I´m doing. Holy cats batman I am learning so much. It seems that every time I figure I'm doing ok, I find out I'm not! I suppose that isn't a bad lesson to learn.

This weekend we have a wedding planned. I figure that by the end of my mission I´ll be able to just move into that line of work, it seems I do it a lot. Three people will be getting baptized. Yader and Susana, who are getting married, and Adrian, who is a miracle (well all of them are miracles.) We found him on a bus, and he invited us over. Turns out his wife is a member of thirty years, but has been unable to find the church after she moved. She told us that she had been searching for us, and when she saw us on the bus she got very excited. (We knew she had to be a member or crazy cause the only strangers that talk to us are members or people asking for money. Just so you know, if you are American, it means that you are rich here, even if you´re not)

Random thought, in Poás there is a LOT of coffee plants, like you wouldn't believe, there is so much. Its like Indiana, but with coffee instead of corn, I like it!

My first day in the mission

There is a family here that has two sons who are members, but the parents are not. The mom has been an investigator for a while, almost a year, and has a testimony that the church is true. But she has no desire to get married, and in the church, you are unable to get baptized if you are living together but not married. I don´think I have ever wanted to help people so bad. I've been brought to the point of tears (almost) upon begging for help from my knees, and I am motivated time and time again to just keep trying. It hurts an awful lot when you just can´t help someone, it hurts a lot more when you love the someone (or family) so darn much.  When you see the solution to all of the strife, contention, and anguish in the home, and you say, "here, here it is, take the gift, be happy" And they refuse. But I know that everything happens in its due time. The pain comes less from my inability to control things and more from the emotional exhaustion of seeing and understanding what failure means.

That isn't to say that I´m depressed or anything, just that I care for them a lot and I believe that its a by product. Truth be told, I am enjoying life a lot, it isn't ever easy, but ay vamos.

Unretractacbly,

Elder Noah M. Toney

Some sisters in my district

 

Pizza day!

We got soaked!

Subway!

those are mamones chinos. They are like grapes without the skins

Pancakes!

My greenie making fun of me

Long day at work

Catan. I would be red! 

I learned

Hey!

So it has been rather crazy.  I have never had so much responsibility in my life. I worry about my district, new companion, and my little group. All of them need my constant attention. So I have been stressed. If I don´t perform well, neither does my district, nor does my greenie get a good start, nor does the group flourish. But at the same time it is invigorating.

Did I also mention that I learned how to handwash clothes?

But that being said, I know that it will be alright. My poor greenie falls asleep everytime he sits down, We´re working hard :)

Not a whole bunch of time today,

but something that I learned, I AM NOT ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS. I learned :) Took me a while, but I´m learning that I need lots of help haha. Luckily I have it.

Transiently,

Elder Noah M. Toney

My poor greenie. So tired!

Trainers and children!

Ever Rewarding

Howdy Hey!

Life in the rich coast is good. Ever challenging, ever rewarding. I like being challenged, I like new things that make me think hard and grow. The sister missionaries do indeed wear pants now, and it is mighty weird, I feel like we have been changed to a mission of all elders...just kiddin, but those poor sisters. Then again, I ain't never had the chance of walking around in nice breezy skirts, so maybe it´s just equal, but hey, you got to be protected against them mosquitoes, they do bad stuff to you.

Speaking of new and challenging things, transfers are today! And I am going to be changing a new, fresh, innocent, corruptible (just kidding) missionary. I am honestly so darn excited. I have wanted to train for a long time. When my leaders told me that I would be training I had a small fist pumping fit, (yes I was that excited) Here trainers are called fathers, and the greenies, sons. So I´m gonna be a dad! I´m too darn excited to be nervous, so we´ll see how this goes. I don´t get my companion until Wednesday, and I don´t even know who he is so that´ll have to wait until next week. But please, pray for this poor unfortunate soul who will be my posterity. I have got a lot of ideas, but better yet, I have good leaders to help me out when I don´t know what to do, and an ever attentive Father to correct me. Turns out that my brother Austin is also training the same time as I, we seem to be copying each other, isn't that nifty?

You could say I´m pretty pumped.

I will be staying in Poás as district leader, which is pretty awesome cause I LOVE Poás, it is pretty much the prettiest place you ever did see, although it has got a LOT of hills. I´m gettin pretty lean, I have also started doing better exercises.

We contact like normal, talkin with everything that moves under the sun, knocking a billion doors, saying a bunch of prayers, bothering a whole lot of people :) This past week we did an activity en Alejuel central where everyone in the zone (16 missionaries) went to one park to hand out books of Mormon, I was talking with this man an he just up an agrees to be baptized. Cool stuff.

Small miracle, yesterday they advised us of transfers pretty late, and we had to leave Poás at 8, so that left almost no time for my companion to pack, cause we had to catch the bus. Right when he finishes, I manage to break the window (Master of Disaster I am) Not the glass part thank heavens, but I managed to get it pulled off track, and for the life of me I could not get it to shut right. And people have already tried to break into the house before (not while I was there) And we were gonna be gone for a good three days, so I had to get it shut. But that dad-burned window would not shut, stubborn thing I just about broke the whole thing I was so mad (why can´t inanimate objects just cooperate?) So my companion took over, trying to get it shut, to no avail. So I said Elder, hold up a sec, it ain't working. We´re gonna say a prayer. Prayer said, I grabbed a hold of that infernal contraption, and with one jiggle, it got back on track and shut right nicely. One second. That is a right quick answer.

We get up at 6:30 usually, although I like to get up an hour early to study a lil bit more. We get up pray, exercise, eat, shower, and study. We arrive at the house at nine o clock, plan, and then I´m making calls an doing district stuff until 10:30, when we turn in. And we do not have mediodias :/

I love you all! Keep me in your prayers that I may do well as a trainer for the sake of this poor young man who will shortly be in my clutches.

Inscrutably,

Elder Noah M. Toney

Book of Mormon fair

We took pics with the people that accepted a Book of Mormon

Yes. Those are police!

My zone!

My district!

Old friends from Santa Cruz

Old friends from Santa Cruz

Beautiful landscapes

Beautiful landscapes

The little street you see leads to our house

Soccer field that is really high up

Transfer day!

Enjoying the sun

Another beautiful day

Kicking butt in Risk (yes I took Asia in the 2nd turn)

Old friends

Transfer day

Old friends

Old friends

Old friends

The Lord is working here

Hello!

This past Sunday we had 46 people in our itty bitty house. It`s pretty awesome, we see a lot of miracles that have nothing to do with us but shows us that the Lord is working here. My favorite part about being District Leader is two fold, 1) I`m connected. It`s a good balance between closeness, and fairness from the HQ, which is to say, there is pressure, but not too much, and I still hear a lot of what happens because I`m close to my leaders. 2) I am ALWAYS being challenged. Knowing that I have to be an example helps me a lot to work hard. I am in a constant phase of changing and learning, and being humbled. It keeps me from being too proud or too lazy. We are using the members more here, working with families. That helps a lot. In this area a lot of hard work is required.

Two funny stories about singing, a while back we were in the first lesson with a new investigator, as usual, we sang a hymn to start. Her two years old son starts sobbing inconsolably, pleading us to stop singing. I`m thinking, what the heck happened to you child? Why are you crying? I sound like an angel so quit that crying business. But then for almost all of the lesson, he cried. Saying "mommy are they gonna sing?" "No dear they won`t sing again" " Are you sure? I feel like they`re going to sing again" Nope she says, no more singing. My companion and I just sit there, baffled, trying not to laugh. Was it so darn bad haha? I still don`t know, but according to her, he cries like that every time someone sings. I have the lurking suspicion that we are just bad singers, Who knows?

Last night we were in the house of some recent converts. We started the lesson with a hymn, (you`d think we would have learned by now, but what can I say, We've got thick heads) I jokingly told one of the guys that was there that we were now going to listen to him sing, solo style. He surprised me by taking the hymnal. I say do you know the tune? Of course he tells me. I`m thinking "what is happening here?" So he starts singing the hymn, Love One Another. But with a completely different tune, (I`m pretty sure it was "Santa Maria"; but who knows)

I call that courage.

I have been learning a lot about patience. I learned something really interesting today. A good friend gave me some advice. The 100% of my companion may not be equal to my 100%. I shouldn't get frustrated because he doesn't move as fast as I do. I've always said that if patience is a virtue, I`m not virtuous. It appears that the Lord is bound and determined to help me be virtuous.

I love you all!

Unsinkably,

Elder Noah M. Toney

Ghetto pants reparation! We used staples :D

Him whom I love, I chasten

SO DARN BUSY

Hey y'all!   I know I haven't written much lately, but things only speed up, they never slow down. There is absolutely too much that I would love to write about and too little time. Basically here we are working like crazy. I love being District Leader. I have a little bit more responsibility and a lot more opportunities to grow. I imagine that is very stressful to be a Zone Leader. All the same, from the moment I wake up (an hour early) to the moment I go to sleep, I am working. I love it, I love being involved. It can be hard, but I know that I have divine help that is making me better. Baby steps, right? I like being involved with the missionaries, knowing what is going on, and I love it when people correct me, That is: 1) a way in which they show me they care for me and want to help me and 2) an opportunity to do things better.

One of my Zone Leaders

Now the truth is, if I don´t trust in the person who is correcting me, I don´t respond nearly as well.  But if they do have my trust, I really do appreciate it. I am learning the truth in what the Lord has said, "Him whom I love, I chasten."  I get chastened a lot, so I suppose that means one of two things: 1) The Lord loves me, and 2) I still have a long (really long) way to go! It reminds me of what Papal Larkin told me one time, that he can't trust a man that is afraid to tell him how it is, even if it is contrary to what you want to hear. I prefer that too.

The countryside. There are a BUNCH of coffee plantations here!

Our little group is growing! The first Sunday I arrived we had ten people come, including us. The second, we had 23, last week we had 40, and yesterday we had 44, and that is with pue poaseños mind you, no griingos or people from other places. The truth is we have a really good group leader who is working hard, and a whole bunch of miracles. For example, we had six people who told us that they were going to come.  The morning of we called them and they said that they were on their way. And not a single one arrived. Instead the Lord blessed us with four people that we hadn't even planned for. I think He´s trying to tell me something, like "Hey, you hard-headed son of mine, I call the shots here, not you." It has been interesting. Every day is a fight to do things well.  Perhaps I coat things with sugar, making it sound like all is perfect. Well it isn't. Everyday is a fight and I am enemy number one.  Truthfully, I am the one that makes things so hard, but I´m stubborn, so I suffer for my stubbornness because sometimes I know what I should do, but I don´t do it. I struggle with patience. I have a great companion, but sometimes I feel like I´m his mother. And I don´t always have tolerance. Equally, I am impatient with myself; it is hard for me to accept my own faults. But I am learning. Slowly :) But I am happy. Very happy. Not every day, but that´s life.

Risk. I WON!!!! (Thank you Doc!)

Another miracle, Last week I didn't write. Here´s why. We were in San José because my comp had to go to the hospital (he is ok) When we were leaving Carls Junior (definitely not worth it, I felt awful afterwards--daggoned pictures look so good) As we were exiting, I saw my best friend from Guanacaste, Marvin Zuñiga. I was having a really bad day and it was absolutely God-sent to see him and be able to talk for a bit. There is a lot of pressure in Poás to have results and I was feeling a tad overwhelmed. And we talked for like four hours, so my fault, but it helped me a lot

Well I gots to go, but I love you all!

Scintillatingly,

Elder Noah M. Toney

All of the District Leaders of Costa Rica